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| Kittiwake |
My plan for Saturday the 17th of January had been to make a pre-dawn start to try for Tawny Owl in Caird Park, then head to Trottick Ponds as the sky lightened to try to get Jack Snipe before comtinuing on towards Powrie Brae/Jack Martin Way in search of Tree Sparrow and Grey Partridge. Needless to say, the weather didn't cooperate after all, so that plan ended up shelved. I would instead try to catch up with my back-log of blog-posts and photo-editing (or much more likely, a day heavy with lot of procrastination). However, the rain looked like it was petering out around 1300 or so, and I debated heading out somewhere before dciding against it. At 1337, just as I sat down with a freshly made cup of tea, a message came in from Mark who was over at Tayport. He'd just found a young Glaucous Gull on the Tay towards the Dundee side of the river, near the sailing club sheds.
I quickly got organised and was out the door just 12 minutes after the message had come through, largely due to having prepared my bag for the morning's cancelled birding, the previous night. Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, Magpie and Carrion Crow provided some predictable first birds for the afternoon. I managed to catch a bus along the Arbroath Road which saved me a bit of time (though roadworks didn't help much). Blue Tit, Starling and Long-tailed Tit were noted on the rather hurried journey down to the Stannergate. I scanned quickly out over the river as soon as I was able to see the Tay but there appeared to be almost no birds out on the water, which wasn't promising.
I added Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Red-breasted Merganser and Cormorant as I hurried along to the Eagle Feathers sculpture to scan from the 'high ground' there. Still no sign. I got talking to an older gentleman about birds and ended up wandering along to the level crossing by the sailing club sheds while chatting to him. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Glaucous Gull, despite repeatedly scanning back and forwards over the river. I then tried from the raised viewpoint offered by the footbridge over the railway line, also to no avail. Continuing onwards towards Broughty Ferry I was surprised when an adult Kittiwake landed in the water just a few metres out from the wall. It didn't look particularly healthy, but it was still new for the year for me. Mark had mentioned there was a Kittiwake in the same area as the Glaucous Gull but unfortunately he had had to leave Tayport shortly after putting out news of the gull.
Still, the Kittiwake offered some modicum of hope. I scanned from the grassy area in front of 'Bob Servant's house' but drew a blank again. I managed to add Curlew, Eider and Oystercatcher on the shore and river, as well as Blackbird and House Sparrow (by the railway line). I continued along to the 'Phibbies' shed to scan from there. I did get a Red-throated Diver, a pair of Rock Pipits and a skein of Pink-footed Geese before finally calling it a day as the light levels dropped away. Grey Heron and Redshank were noted as I started the walk homewards. Robin, Redwing and Wren were added on the walk homewards. Despite missing out on the Glaucous Gull, I did still add 1 new bird for the year (in bold) amongst the 26 species seen (though I didn't take too many photos).
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Red-throated Diver |
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| Redshank |
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| Redshank |
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| Curlew |
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| Common Gull |
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| Common Gull |
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| Eider |
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| Curlew |
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| Curlew |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Oystercatcher |
Birds - Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Kittiwake, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Oystercatcher, Pink-footed Goose, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Diver, Redshank, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Starling, Turnstone, Wren.
